Ft. Gringotts Ukrainian Ironbelly
Lily's POV
The goblin, whose name I delved to be Bogrod, was . not at all surprised when Griphook . and Harry appeared from under the Cloak once we were in the station chamber and all of us climbed into a small metal cart, resembling a mining car. With a click of the goblins fingers, the carriage started moving and at the last minute, the tracks switched and we were suddenly diving steeply deep into the earth with worrying speed.
Deeper and deeper we flew, all our hair flapping wildly in the wind as the cart took hairpin bends like demons from hell were chasing us. Entering a large cavern, a loud gushing sound reverberated around us and up ahead a waterfall flew past before the tracks turned sharply and we were hurtling straight towards it.
"What is that, Griphook?!"
Harry shouted above the wind, the same time Griphook yelled, "No!"
The icy water washed over us and it took a moment until we could breathe or see anything again, the same moment the cart came to an abrupt halt. Glancing around for an answer as to what was going on, I noticed Hermione looked like herself again, as did Ron. A light came on in the carriage and it let out a horrible wailing sound like an alarm before the bottom dropped out and we were all hurtling into the darkness below.
Hermione screeched something as she rapidly flicked her wand, the ground growing ever closer but we all froze just above the rocky surface before dropping gently onto it.
"Thanks, Hermione," Draco nodded, offering me a hand up, brushing himself off.
"What was that?!" Ron demanded, looking around for Griphook.
"The Thief's Downfall," He said it like we were supposed to know what the hell just happened. "It washes away all enchantments, it can be deadly."
"You don't say," Ron replied sarcastically. "Just out of interest, is there any other way out of here?"
"Nope." Griphook shook his head eyeing Bogrod.
"What in the devil are all you doing down here!?" The amount of anger radiating out of such a small creature was almost comical, he was even turning red. "Thieves! Why you little--"
"Imperio." I flicked my wand and the goblin breathed in calmly, settling into the vacant state.
I turned back around to find Ron and Hermione gaping at me, Griphook and Harry watching on cautiously. "You do it like you've done it before? Like you don't care?"
"I have and I don't really care right now," I answered honestly and moved towards the small opening in the side of what seemed to be a mountain buried beneath the earth.
A deep rumble emitted from inside the mountain right beside us. "That doesn't sound good," Ron muttered.
We walked along the small path that stuck out from the mountain and came to the vault entrance. Inside was a circular chamber of three levels, lined with doors to vaults belonging to the oldest and most powerful families in history.
Draco leant down to my ear, wrapping an arm around my waist as we walked towards the columns holding . up the extensive architecture. "Our vault is in here."
The others evidently heard as they glanced back at us with smiles. We came round the columns to find a fully-grown dragon chained in the centre of the large area, far above us a tunnel of light shone in the darkness of the bank above. The metal collar had caused its neck to rub raw and it's limbs sickly thin due to lack of sufficient living conditions.
"Blimey, that's a Ukrainian Ironbelly," Ron exclaimed.
"Here." Griphook passed out several pieces of equipment, two bells hung on either side and when you twisted it fast enough it acted as a clanger of sorts, the sound echoing through the room. "It's been trained to expect pain when it hears this noise."
That's not barbaric at all. We distracted the dragon with the noise, which cowered away, trying to prevent itself from getting hurt as Griphook dragged Bogrod up a set of stairs and over to a vault. He pressed the goblins hand to the door and there was a shudder before it opened. Quickly, we all slipped inside before the dragon lit up the area we'd just been standing.
"Lumos."
Light emitted from my hands like headlights on a car and the glint of gold and treasure reflected back at us. "Is it in here Harry? Can you feel anything?" Hermione whispered in the darkness.
I stepped up beside him, throwing my light around the room. "It's here." We both answered. Harry's gaze settled and he nodded with his head towards the glass cabinet in the corner, many expensive and elaborate things on show, but the golden cup stuck out. "That's it."
Bogrod stumbled slightly, gently hitting a silver hoop on a table, which fell to the floor and began to heat up, its exterior turning red as it split into three copies of itself. "No!" Draco hissed. "Don't touch anything, everything you touch will multiply."
More things began to fall to the floor and multiply and it was Harry who reacted the quickest. "Give me the sword!"
Hermione took out the sword from her beaded bag and chucked it to me, hilt first and I caught it, handing it to Harry. The treasure was now up to everyone's knees and Ron hoisted Griphook onto his shoulders as his skin began to show signs of burns from the deadly charm. Draco was on the other side of the room and he was desperately trying to wade through the sea of hot metal to get to me.
My brother used the growing pile of metal to his advantage, crawling over the top of a pile of plates, ruby-encrusted goblets and cutlery, as it raised him towards the cutlery.
"Stop moving!" Griphook warned.
I remained where I was, at the bottom of the pile, nearly becoming submerged in the burning gold. "Lily!" I heard Draco call though I could not see him, my head just above the suffocating treasure.
My gaze followed Harry who became completely buried in treasure and for a moment nobody moved. Harry sprung out of the mound, throwing himself back down to us, knocking treasure away from me on his way and I came crashing down with him. "I got it!"
We all watched the goblet leave his grip and fly through the air into Griphook's hand. "We had a deal Griphook," Harry warned.
"The goblet for the sword." Harry gently tossed him the Gryffindor Sword, which Ron caught and handed to him, as he lifted the goblin off him and the goblet was thrown to Hermione.
The sneaky goblin seized Bogrod and unlocked the door. "I said I'd get you in, I didn't say anything about getting you out." And with an evil grin that could match one of Umbridge's, he was out of the vault, locking the door behind him.
The treasure now filled the whole room and all five of us were managing to stay above the surface, enough to climb out over the top of the overflowing vault. We came out onto the balcony of the second floor to see Griphook making his escape.
"Imperio!" I cast and the lifeless Bogrod in the nasty goblins hold suddenly sprung to life, his clawed hands wrapping around his throat.
There was a flash of light and a curse flew past my head and we ducked behind the columns holding up the third floor. "Lily!" Hermione scolded.
"He deserved it." Ron and Draco yelled in opposition as more hexes were sent at us.
There were more guards, dressed in a smart blue uniform like the ones at the door had been. "Well, we can't just stand here. Anyone got an idea?" Hermione shouted to us, she and Ron crouched behind the column next to the three of us.
"You're the brilliant one!" Ron said frantically beside her.
"I've got an idea," I voiced, looking around the other side of the pillar at the dragon. "But you're not going to like it. Reducto!"
The spell blew away the balcony and with one final deep breath, I flung myself off the ledge and onto the unsuspecting dragons back. Without question, the other four followed, clinging to the many spikes that dotted the ridge of the white beasts back. the dragon was not liking the spells being cast around it and roared in outrage. A stray spell hit the dragons backside and it gave another great roar, turning sharply and flicking a group of wizards with its giant tail.
Turning its head longingly up at the sky, to that spot of light, it steadily made its ascent from the vaults. Though its pace slow, its size was so great we were soon far from the wizards below and Gringotts was approaching fast. Not once did the creature attempt to fly, probably never having done it before in its life.
This was the part I hadn't thought much about. "Hold on!"
Crashing its large head through the floor of the foyer, the dragon snapped and roared at all the goblins racing frantically about, more guards appearing to try and take control of the situation but the dragon wasn't having it. With a huge claw, it swiped the crystal chandelier from the roof before proceeding to climb through it and into fresh air. Glass and pieces of rubble barely missed us as we clung for dear life and hoped this crazy deprived dragon wouldn't kill us.
It seemed pretty content sitting atop of the destroyed Gringotts bank, looking out over London. It's probably the first time the beast had been outside. "Now what?" Ron asked.
Draco leant over behind me. "Stupefy!" The spell hit the dragon's tail and it flapped its wings in protest, discovering it could fly. With a couple of attempts and destroyed rooftops later we were flying over the city, turning to follow the Thames River.
Clinging onto the spine of a dragon for a couple of hours leave you with cramped muscles and a need to go to the bathroom. It didn't help the dragon kept on swooping in and out of clouds, leaving us damp and hands slippery.
"We're dropping," Harry announced as the dragons height lowered dramatically until we were barely scraping above the water.
"When do we jump?"
"Now!" Harry yelled.
We all let go and fell into the river, the water icy and cold, giving you shock and leaving me unable to breathe. My head came above the water, spluttering for air when someone grabbed my arm and I turned to see Draco swimming beside me. We had landed in the middle of the river, which wasn't fast flowing and seemed to be idling along quietly, making it easy to swim to the edge. However, the climb up the smooth slippery surface of the jagged rocks up onto the grassy hill was a different story.
We stood freezing on the bank in the middle of the countryside, not a sign of civilisation in sight as the dragon flew off. "On the plus side, we got the Horcrux. On the downside no sword."
"That double-crossing little..." Draco hissed as Harry let out a yelp of pain.
"He knows, You-Know-Who." Harry panted, hunching over and splitting out water, clutching his scar. "He knows we broke into Gringotts, he knows what we took, he knows we're hunting Horcruxes."
"And how exactly is it you know?" Hermione asked over her shoulder, casting protective concealment charms.
"I saw it," Harry admitted sheepishly.
"You can't keep letting him in Harry." She warned.
"I can't always help it." He snapped. "Maybe I can, I don't know."
"Never mind! What happened?" Draco interrupted them.
"He's angry and scared too. He knows that if we find and destroy all the Horcruxes that we can kill him too." He continued through chattering teeth. Hermione was arm-deep in that little-beaded bag, grabbing our clean, dry clothes, while Ron had the bottle of dittany attending to the angry burns Harry had caught on his ankles, the rest of us in thick robes that had protected us. "There's something wrong with him, in the past, I've always been able to follow his thoughts, and now it just feels disconnected."
"Maybe it's the Horcruxes," Ron said. "He's growing weaker, maybe he's dying."
I looked at the ground. It wasn't just the Horcruxes. "No, no, it's more like he's wounded," Harry said after he finished changing. "If anything, he feels more dangerous."
"Here," She handed Draco a pair of Ron's pants and a shirt of Harry's. "I'm afraid I don't have anything that would fit you, Lil."
I flicked my hand and I was wearing a pair of Dracos tracksuits and a black lacy midriff, which showed off my Dark Mark. I sighed. "Really?"
Draco chuckled, as I rolled down the band of his tracksuits so they weren't so baggy. "There's more," Harry added, peeling off his wet clothing. "The last one is at Hogwarts."
"What?"
"I saw the castle and Rowena Ravenclaw. It must have something to do with her, we have to go there now!"
"But that leaves only five," I muttered. "In Slughorn's memory, Riddle expressed his desire to create seven, the most magically powerful number?"
Harry met my gaze and for a moment something passed between us a thought we'd both shared once before, last year after a meeting with Dumbledore, but it passed as soon as it came. "What? Wait, hang on, we have to plan it out." Hermione protested.
"Hermione, when has one of our plans ever actually worked?" Harry asked her. "We plan, we get there, and all hell breaks loose."
"He's right." Ron agreed with his best friend.
"There's just one problem, Snape may be headmaster but we can't just walk through the front door." Draco looked around at the group.
"Well, we'll go to Hogsmeade. To Honeydukes, take the secret passage in the cellar."
"You can't," I warned. "The Caterwauling Charm has been placed over Hogsmeade, if we go there after curfew we'd set it off."
"What time is it?"
"Getting on towards eight o'clock, an hour past the restricted time."
Hermione quickly stripped off the lace-up boots, dumping them there on the hillside and I helped her with the dress. "I don't care," She pulled the jumper over her head. "You-Know-Who is going to be on high alert now he knows what we're doing. We have to get to Hogwarts before he does."
Grabbing our hands, she apparated us right into High Street, the main street of Hogsmeade. "Are you serious?! Right out here in the open for everyone to see?!" I cursed, the five of us ducking into an alley as the shriek of the alarm, similar to a cat being trod-on, started blazing.
Shouts and calls echoed from the Three Broomsticks, the only building with any lights on at this hour and we ran through back streets underneath the cloak as fast as we could, hoping the darkness would conceal our footprints in the snow. Behind us, a pair of Death Eaters were hurrying down our street and we turned into another alley, running around a bend to come to a locked gate, a dead end.
"Quick, in here, Potters." Came a gravelly voice but we didn't really have a choice as a Dementor flew over the rooves of the houses above us.
We slipped in through the dark doorway, the wide-set man half-concealed in shadow gesturing towards the stairs, only visible in the dim candlelight. The room at the bottom was quaint and cozy, a fire filling it with warmth, above the mantlepiece a large portrait of a girl standing and smiling down on us.
"Did you get a look at him?" Ron asked, staring wide-eyed at us.
"Yeah, he looked like Dumbledore."
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